Under the God Tree
by hikari hime 73
Summary: 'Only he had the time to live in denial...' Seasons challenge for dokuga contest ; SxK ; CU
1. Chapter 1

**Under the God Tree**

By Hikari Hime

(Seasons Challenge on Dokuga_Contest)

**1 - Boisterous Youth (Spring)**

The vibrant green of new life was covering the Goshinboku when a burst of ancient power called him to his brother's village.

He hadn't been in that particular meadow for three whole years now, and he wondered if the Well had opened again. Would the young miko his brother had fallen in love with come back ? That would be a good thing, Inuyasha was unmanageable when depressed, and he loathed having to use violence in front of his young ward; after all, Rin loved the hanyou dearly, but he didn't want her to be tainted by such an uncouth attitude.

He remembered the miko -Kagome- had been efficient in curbing the whelp's language. He smirked: Inuyasha-shaped craters had always improved his mood.

Caressed by the soft breeze, his hair was the only thing moving as he watched the young woman's cheek turn from ivory to pale pink under her long-lost friend's attention, her smile shining like a million suns under the swaying shade of the ancient tree.

Inuyasha was the one to step away from the hug they had been sharing, keh-ing in embarrassment, one clawed hand scratching behind the nape of his neck. Kagome frowned, but let go of him, allowing her friend to put space between them.

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed slightly, something was wrong with the idiot. He had expected the reunion to be much more... passionate than that, yet the two friends were walking back to the village without even touching each other. While they talked, Kagome's sapphire gaze was full of questions and concern, while the hanyou's stance looked somewhat apologetic, and tense.

As time flew by, and Sesshomaru came back from time to time to bring supplies to his ward, he observed as Kagome tried to get closer to his little brother and failed, an impenetrable barrier surrounding Inuyasha like steel armour.

The miko called him 'Onii-san', waving to him as if he were an old friend (which he wasn't, he insisted in the confines of his mind), and she never saw the red-clad hanyou flinch guiltily. The Lord glared at his sibling, conveying his displeasure, but said nothing: the doings of mortals didn't concern him after all, even Inuyasha's life was a speck in the vastness of his own existence.

That was probably the one and only time the woman was going to call him that, he wagered, surprised at the twinge of disappointment he felt at the thought. Inuyasha had proven to be somewhat honourable during the Naraku ordeal, but stringing the young miko along was anything but fair to her.

Kagome's demeanour stayed unflappably jovial, and even a smile was plastered on her face like thick make-up, but sometimes at night, when the fluttering lights of fireflies tried in vain to vanquish the deep shadows left by the absence of the sun, she could be found in the meadow under the Goshinboku, pale fingers caressing the thick roots of the tree longingly.

And often during those moments she could feel the golden eyes of her silent guardian on her back, his presence the anchor she needed to avoid succumbing to the deep melancholy she felt.

One day she dared to ask the question burning her lips:

"If Inuyasha was to be compared to a human in terms of maturity, how old would he be?"

When only silence and the soft chimes of young leaves echoed in the dark, Kagome brushed her knees and stood, preparing herself to go to bed, but a gentle baritone answered her before she had the time to walk out of the glen:

"Too young," he said, no emotion colouring the words she had dreaded to hear.

Kagome hiccuped softly and sighed, taking a few moments to accept the inevitable. She had matured and grown, as humans were wont to do, but Inuyasha stayed the same, boastful and young-minded, unable to fulfil the commitment she wanted from him.

She surprised Sesshomaru again when she addressed him before walking away:

"Don't tell him it's closed," she said, determination in the set of her shoulders.

The youkai snorted and disappeared in the forest. After all, why would he tell his brother anything? Their affairs were not his concern...

And even when her friends had moved away one by one, the monk and slayer wanting to rebuild Sango's former home, Kohaku following his sister, Shippo going away to study, he hadn't told a soul.

Sesshomaru wasn't a male of many words anyway, and he only kept on coming to visit his little Rin. He wasn't there for the miko, no, she was annoying, stubborn and … too human for his tastes, anyway.

Watching the inu brothers spar, she supposed he enjoyed putting his little brother in his place, too, but sometimes, she would find his burning golden gaze on her.

When it happened, she always smiled to him, respect shining in the sapphire depths.

**Here's my new story.**

**It's a short one, written for the seasons challenge at Dokuga_contest.**

**4 chapters, already written and beta read. I will update once a week. It's one chapter ahead on dokuga though ;)**

**Read, Enjoy, and please Review.**

**Dewa mata  
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	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter!  
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**Enjoy... and remember to review if pôssible ;)**

**Next update, next friday... but remember that I am a chapter ahead on dokuga...**

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><p><strong>2 – Rolling Hills and Thunder Storms (Summer)<strong>

The Goshinboku's branches creaked under the warm, southern wind. The scorching sun of summer wasn't so aggressive under the tree shelter, so Kagome had taken to giving classes under its boughs.

Kaede had passed on ten years ago, and now she had taken the role of village miko, giving the position her own twist of course. She had taken it upon herself to teach the children how to write and count, telling them about plants and seasons, how to take care of Nature so that she could take care of them in return.

She gave her knowledge freely, healed the villagers, helped when women were giving birth, relieved the pain of dying people, whatever was asked of her, she did with a smile.

However, she was all too aware of the misgivings of the superstitious people around her. She knew too much, had too much power, made friends with everybody be they human, youkai or hanyou, and sometimes even conversed with trees and flowers. Her apprentice, now a young woman, wore fine silks and bore herself like a true Lady of nobility, even though she was just some common orphan.

Mistrust simmered in their hearts, begotten by their ignorance and the ways of the era they were born in. They forgot all too easily how Kagome had saved them when Naraku had wanted to devour them all, only seeing the brashness of her hanyou friend and the fact that she was the only one he ever listened to.

Not to mention when, once a season, the overwhelming power of the Great and Terrible daiyoukai of the West blanketed the region, frightening humans and cattle alike. He was only there to visit Rin, but sometimes would spar with his half brother, or stay to camp at the edge of the forest, and rumours talked of heated encounters between the wild creature and the supposedly pure miko.

Kagome had heard it all, and it had made her snort with ill-suppressed giggles. Sesshomaru would have kittens before he would sully his pristine self with her grubby, human presence; or so she said.

However, as time went on and her own kind avoided being too close to her, as if her friendship would curse them, she appreciated the solitude the God Tree provided. It was her haven, and nobody dared to disturb her peace when she went there to meditate or think.

Well, almost nobody.

When the moon was high in the summer sky and its light made Kagome's hair shine like crow wings, Sesshomaru would stroll through the stillness of the forest, stopping a few meters from her.

There were rarely any words exchanged between them, the simple act of stargazing enough to convey their mutual need of comfortable silence. They would look at the deep blue sky until it would be coloured by the crimson of dawn, birds singing happily at the birth of the new day, human and youkai parting ways to confront the vicissitudes of their respective lives.

Until one day, what was brewing in the depths of the villagers' hearts overflowed, birthing deep-seated hatred for the woman that had once saved them all.

She had overstepped her bounds, telling the kids that youkai were _people,_ of all things. It was absurd, an abject lie, and commoners weren't supposed to know how to read anyway, that was reserved for daimyo and their families, notables of the government... never peasants...

They waited until she went away from the village for her daily bath (every day she bathed, another thing they couldn't understand...), and set fire to her small hut. Of course, she had been living on the outskirts of the village, so their homes were safe; Kohaku, Sango and Miroku had been living at the slayer village to rebuild it for a while, Inuyasha was more often with them than with Kagome lately, Shippo was at his kitsune school for exams... they had waited for this moment, when the only company she'd have would be her apprentice Rin.

Rin, who had been knocked unconscious while trying to protect their modest hut...

Rin, left alone and defenceless on the wooden floor of the _burning_ house...

Kagome, sensing something was very wrong, had started to run home after her bath. The ominous grey snake of smoke she could see slithering past the trees separating her from the village made her reckless in her haste, jumping over roots, ducking under branches, her heart hammering in her throat like a caged bird.

And when she saw the orange tongues of fire swallowing the wooden structure hungrily, she couldn't keep a broken sob from escaping her dry lips...

Seeing the form of her friend lying on the floor...

Jumping into the hut, skin bubbling and crackling under the assault of the flames...

Holding her breath 'till white flashes invaded her bleary vision, and then coughing in the thick smoke...

Finding Rin, holding her body against her with charred limbs, and then get out, get out, _get out_...

Gritting her teeth against the white, _hot,_ pain, running through the silent forest to find their salvation in fresh, running water...

And once their bodies were half submerged in the happy, burbling stream, bitter tears ran down Kagome's cheeks, making clear traces on her soot covered face. She cried for minutes, hours perhaps, for her folly, for her loneliness, and for the stupid, _stupid_ humans that had harmed her innocent friend so.

She cried because she also realised that there would probably be no survivors, once Sesshomaru found out about their treachery. Inuyasha was not going to protect them this time either...

That's how he found them, Rin still unconscious, but alive and unharmed, and Kagome crying herself dry holding his ward with red, blistered, hands; both sitting in the brook.

Apart from a slight tightening at the corner of his mouth, Sesshomaru gave no outward sign of his fury. He collected both humans and flew them to his own fortress in the deepest corner of the western forest, left them to his healers with orders on how to care for them, and went out again.

He came back later during that night, the relaxed gait of a feline after its hunt, crusted blood covering his face and hands. Not human blood though, Kagome could see it in the way he looked at her, behind the furnace of his eyes. He hadn't taken revenge on her kind, and for that she felt deeply grateful. She took care of him that night, ridding him of the blood and grime, and he kept her and Rin safe with him from then on.

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><p><strong>Dewa mata :D<br>**


	3. Chapter 3

Here's the third chapter... now, I've made you wait enough, enjoy ;)

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><p><strong>3 – Unattainable Feelings (Fall)<strong>

Their relationship was difficult to define.

He was still a cold, emotionless being. Humans were still beneath him even though he admitted to some exceptions, namely Rin and Kagome, and sometimes their friends. Others' lives were still meaningless and foolish, as fickle and temporary as a butterfly.

He was quite the monolithic being, unchanging and ageless, but under all that pure white, a red blooded heart still beat.

You really couldn't notice it, unless you were called Rin, or Kagome.

For all intents and purposes, Rin was his daughter, the gap-toothed little girl who always smiled and picked flowers to put on Jaken's hat.

Kagome took care of him.

He had always been a very private being, he only touched other living things with his hands to end their existences. But with Rin, he touched her to save her...

And Kagome, _she_ touched _him_. _A lot_.

It wasn't intimate, there was nothing sexual, as far as he was concerned he didn't desire her, she was another species entirely, although she wasn't quite human in his eyes.

She was Kagome, and it was enough.

Her hands roamed the firm expanse of his chest and back, lathering him with soap, and after he had ducked underwater to rinse, she rubbed him with soft scented oils, brushing his hair while humming under her breath.

She never told him anything when he came back covered in the blood of the hunt, or when he came back from war, armour broken and silk torn, but body still as perfect as ever. He always waited till he was healed before coming back, not wanting to appear weak in front of her.

And every time he came back home, she bathed him, her hands never doing anything inappropriate, clothed him in a silk yukata, and went to bed with him. Once in his futon, she put her arms around him for a silent, intense, moment, and then drew back, looking at him with that special smile only for him, the one softening the colour of her eyes until they shone like the deep blue of the night sky.

He had never asked about that ritual of hers, why she had started doing that, or even why he had let her. It just became a habit, and as years passed, he always looked forward to those pure moments of calm, when Kagome would soothe his hardened warrior heart.

He had never touched her though, refusing to soil her with his blood covered hands. They were not for love, those claws of his, but for death and poison and ripping skin until bones showed through.

One day he came back from a long, long war; and she wasn't there waiting for him. He searched for her all around his home, smearing the old blood and gore of his defeated enemies on delicate shoji screens, and she wasn't there, and he was _furious_, seething like the animal he was, until Rin told him where she was.

He prowled the countryside, traversing golden and copper forests and nearly-frozen brooks, mouth drooling acid and clothes torn and filthy, but it didn't matter, she was the only one who could cleanse him of the grime of battle, and he needed her, needed the absolution her hands gave him, the forgiveness he could read in her deep, blue eyes like the sky at night, the love she reserved only for him, even though he was a beast, a murderer.

The warlord he was was addicted to the peace of mind this simple ritual could bring him, but not only that, he was addicted to the feeling of her hands on him, addicted to the being that was Kagome, as unrepentantly human as she was.

There she was, under the Goshinboku, kneeling as if in prayer, clad in a simple brown and grey kimono.

Her hair was floating in the wind, and for the first time in years he looked at it, noticing the strands of fine silver mingling with the ebony of her youth.

Deep wrinkles marked the corner of her closed lids and her lips looked pale and thin, her veins were now visible on the back of her still elegant hands.

She was in good health still, a strong woman who had been through thick and thin, and her wisdom was now much more apparent in the way she carried herself.

She was ageing, too.

A deep wrenching ache tore through Sesshomaru's rib cage, erupting from him in a horrified keen.

He was going to lose her to time in only a few years, and she would never know, he would never have told her how much he _needed_ her in his life, how much she counted for him...

He approached her like the predator he was, knowing she was aware of his presence...

He touched her hands and she jumped, surprised by his warmth...

He growled deeply and embraced her, Kagome squealing like the schoolgirl she wasn't any more...

They finished on the cold ground, in a flurry of limbs and heat and hair and _oh_...

He kissed her, savagely, drunk on her scent and on her acceptance of what made him who he was...

And then he slowed down, letting her tenderness show through, and a little of his, too...

He made love to her that night, under the twinkle of the stars who seemed merry for some reason, surrounded by the deep blue of the night sky.

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><p>Please review :D<p>

I might post the fourth chapter tomorrow... or not. lol.

Dewa mata


	4. Chapter 4

And there's the last one.

I hope you enjoyed this little story as much as I enjoyed writing it... now if only that could help me finishing my other ones... :/

Anyway... See you soon, I hope!

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><p><strong>4 – Peace of the Soul (Winter)<strong>

A thick blanket of snow hid the ageless roots of the God Tree, its boughs heavy under the pure, white stuff.

Everything was frozen, nature sleeping under the cover of winter.

Tiny drops of water shone in the crisp rays of the morning sun, falling to the ground to join its brethren in the small bubbling brook.

A creature of white and red and a little bit of gold, was gliding through the forest to pay his respect to the ancient Goshinboku, his footsteps as silent as the passing of time, leaving no trace whatsoever on the snow-covered ground.

Sesshomaru lifted his eyes to the slumbering giant, amber glittering in the sunlight, and remembered, as he had each year since that fateful day.

It had been in the dead of winter, January she had told him in that wizened voice of hers, that her body had finally failed her.

She had been a force of nature all her life, a strong woman even when she had been more than a century old, but she was still very much human, and there was a limit to what her body could sustain.

Yes, even her, in her infinite love and purity.

They had been lovers for the last years of her life, a few decades, a drop in the ocean of his millennia-old life.

Too short, but so intense had been their hunger for each other.

As if she had wanted to catch up on lost time,

As if he had wanted to keep her so deeply burrowed in him that even death couldn't touch her.

He had put all his dreams of conquest on hold, just so that he could stay with her for the little time she had left,

She had bathed him every day, showering him with kisses and hugs and oh so much more,

And that hadn't been enough, because even though he loved her more than his own life, he never told her any thing.

He suspected she knew, though, because she still gave him that secret smile, the one only for him, which made her eyes the same colour as the night sky.

One day, she had bathed him with the softness only she was capable of and had rubbed his chest and back with oils, like in the beginning when Sesshomaru had denied the both of them so much. Her hands didn't shake, her eyes never missed anything, and her mind was as sharp as ever, but her breath escaped her lungs like a family of rattlesnakes and her heart was pumping her lifeblood sloppily.

She covered him with a warm sleeping yukata, and accompanied him into their bed, the one they had been sharing for the last forty years or so, so many years for her, never enough for him, and lay down with him.

She kissed him softly, tenderly, and he returned the kiss with a wet sweep of his tongue on her lower lip, the gesture only mates of his species shared, and even though she was only human, she understood and smiled their secret smile, the one even Inuyasha never had, the one only for him, Sesshomaru.

She told him, with the little bit of voice she had left,

"Will you please do me a favour, my Lord?"

And in the deep rumble of his own voice he answered,

"Name it, Kagome, and it will be done."

She smirked then, always amused by his formality,

"Live," she said, "not for me, but for yourself. Enjoy life, nurture it, and when we meet again, don't wait so long to let me in."

He smiled, the rare true smile he only gave to her, the one which made his eyes shine like the sun in the summer sky,

"It will be done as you wish,"

He told her he loved her that night, for the first and last time of their joined life, and in the morning she was no more, her face frozen in a peaceful smile; but not theirs, her closed eyes unable to shine the deep blue of the night sky any more.

Sesshomaru made a wish that day under the God Tree.

"I wish," he prayed, "that in our next existence together, we can be joined, not only in life, but in time too, so that I can live and age by her side."

Of course, as things are wont to happen, no one answered him, but somewhere up above the youkai's silver head, under the deep blue sky of winter, a little white flower bloomed.

OWARI

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><p>Please review ^_^<p> 


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